Potty Training: Going “Cold Turkey”
Posted By Jill on June 14, 2011
It was recommended to me that once we know we can be home and not have to go anywhere for a week or so, we should go “cold turkey” to Mac wearing underwear and trying this whole potty thing. So here we are… Summer vacation – woo hoo!
Day 1
I thought the biggest battle of my day would be getting “Mr. I-don’t-like-new-things” to put on underwear for the first time. It wasn’t even an issue! He got some really fun ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ briefs and was happy to put those on when I told him today was the day. So we were off to the races for an exciting day of timers and frequent potty-tries. We tried every 30 minutes. By naptime, Mac had had four accidents (wet), and he hadn’t gone on the potty at all. He didn’t seem to hate being wet, but he also seemed to understand it wasn’t right. One of the accidents happened right in the bathroom as he was washing his hands after trying! Keep in mind, he has gone in the potty before, but not since that first day. At one of the tries, he actually surprised both of us and made two tiny little poops! I was glad for that and thought since that usually comes later, we are on the right track. His pull-up was wet after his nap, as expected, and he had one more accident in the afternoon. But just before Jeremy got home, a little before 5:00, the trying turned to doing! He went tinkles in the potty! We cheered and smiled, and he seemed very pleased with himself. He even went again about 15 minutes later – he took the initiative himself to get in there! And he went in the potty two more times before bedtime. Whew! One day down…
Day 2
Today started much like yesterday with a wet accident in the morning. I kept waiting for #2 (there was only the two tiny ones yesterday and none in is overnight diaper…). But I had a big fail when he left the basement to go upstairs – I heard him close the kitchen door, then I heard something else – I should have known but was too late by the time I figured out what he was doing. So we had a messy and a little wet accident but cleaned it all up and kept trying with the potty every 30 minutes. Those were our only two accidents of the day!! He didn’t go in the potty at all before naptime. He did have a pull-up during his nap again (and probably will until he can keep those dry) which was wet when he woke up at 3:30ish. We continued our timed tries, and he didn’t have any more accidents, but he didn’t actually GO until almost 7:00! I guess those muscles are working!
My biggest frustration with the whole process is actually his messing around while he’s on the toilet trying to go. I think part of it is that he seems to already know when he needs to go, so if he doesn’t feel like he has to, he’s bored just sitting there. Three times he has said he has to go, but only the time on the first day did he actually go. So, we’ll see. Jane recommended we have him stand up so he doesn’t just sit there and mess around, so we might try that soon. When he does have to go, he gets right to it, so maybe it’s me letting it go on too long. Either way, we’ll figure it out eventually!
So, tomorrow I’m hoping we’ll continue to make progress even though he’ll wear a pull-up while he’s with the sitter in the morning (I have to go into work for a bit). Stay tuned for more excitement in potty-training-land!
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